Barclaycard Ring™ Mastercard® Review

The Barclaycard Ring™ Mastercard® is a unique credit card, but in a good way. This card will not offer you rewards for your purchases, but it gives its cardholders a voice in what kind of features and benefits they would like to see in the future. Here is a deeper dive into exactly how the Barclaycard Ring™ Mastercard® works.

What You Get

While the card does not offer an introductory 0% APR period for purchases or balance transfers, the card does have a low standard APR. Unlike many cards that allow balance transfers, the Barclaycard Ring™ Mastercard® offers no balance transfer fee. Depending on the size of the balance you’re transferring, this could save hundreds of dollars. In addition, this card comes with no foreign transaction fees and no annual fee.

If you are working to pay down debt and either boost or maintain your credit score, then a great feature included with this card is complementary access to your FICO score each month. The Barclaycard Ring™ Mastercard® will also allow you to do a cash advance with your card for a small $3 fee. Even though this is a much lower fee than most other cards, we strongly discourage you ever taking advantage of this feature.

What really makes this card stand out from other credit cards is the unique benefits of being a cardholder. You will have the chance to share ideas and vote on features you would like to see included on the card. This is very similar to how a credit union works but is an unusual offering for one of the larger banks.

Earlier it was mentioned that this card doesn’t offer rewards and that’s mostly true. You won’t earn a set amount of rewards on purchases like a rewards card. You will, however, receive a portion of the cards profits back every six months as part of their Giveback program. The more money the Barclaycard Ring™ Mastercard® makes, combined with the amount you use your card, directly dictates what your profit share will be.

What You Don’t Get

There are two downsides to this card that we can see. The first is that all rewards are directly tied to the performance of the card as a whole. Even if you spend thousands of dollars with your card each year, you might not earn anything because of poor overall performance.

The second major downside is that this card requires applicants to have an excellent credit score. Many individuals that are looking to complete a balance transfer may not be able to meet this criteria. If you have current debt, have less than excellent credit, and don’t qualify for the ring card, try the Chase Slate® card or another balance transfer card.

The Bottom Line

The Barclaycard Ring™ Mastercard® is a great credit card for a specific individual. If you have some debt that you’d like help paying down or you just want a say in how your credit card operates then this is a great card to have in your wallet.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sean Bryant is a Denver based freelance writer specializing in travel, credit cards and personal finance. With nearly 10 years of writing experience his work has appeared in many of the industries top publications. He holds a bachelor of arts degree in economics. He also runs OneSmartDollar.com. When not working Sean enjoys spending time with his wife, daughter and dog Charlie and can frequently be found on his bike or snowboard. Learn more about Sean Bryant

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Any opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author's alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any card issuer.

Credit Cards Explained may earn affiliate commissions from our partners on this page. These commissions do not affect how we select, rate, or review products. To find out more, read our complete terms of use.

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EDITORIAL NOTE

Any opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author's alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any card issuer.

Credit Cards Explained may earn affiliate commissions from our partners on this page. These commissions do not affect how we select, rate, or review products. To find out more, read our complete terms of use.